Episode Details
Back to Episodes
The Shame Doesn't Belong to You — Reclaiming Identity After Abuse | The Tepe Story
Description
Shame is the abuser's final weapon — and it's the one that keeps working long after they're gone. Shame for staying. Shame for not seeing it sooner. Shame for what you tolerated. Shame for needing help. That internal voice telling you you're weak, stupid, broken — that's not your voice. It was installed by someone who needed you to believe you were the problem.
Put it down. Not all at once. Piece by piece.
The final episode of our coercive control series is about what true crime coverage never touches: healing. The identity you excavate after someone dismantled it. The shame you learn to put down. The boundaries you rebuild after years of being punished for having them. The therapist who gets it and the waitlist that keeps you from finding one. And the community of survivors carrying the same silence you are — people who look at you and say "I know," and that two-word sentence does more than a year of advice from someone who hasn't been there.
Monique Tepe built something extraordinary while carrying years of alleged fear. She chose Spencer. She chose parenthood. She chose joy. This episode honors what she built — and speaks to everyone still building.
You are not what happened to you. You are what you build after.
Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod
This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
#HiddenKillers #MoniqueTepe #SpencerTepe #MichaelMcKee #TheShameDoesntBelongToYou #HealingAfterAbuse #CoerciveControl #SurvivorIdentity #TraumaRecovery #YouAreWhatYouBuildAfter